by John Johnston, The Cincinnati Enquirer

by John Johnston, The Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI -- Eight-year-old Ravid Sulam sits on the carpeted floor of a classroom at Pleasant Ridge Montessori School. She's surrounded by three of her second-grade classmates.

She scans the pages of a book about wildlife, searching for an animal to research and draw.

"Are you doing snakes?" a boy asks. "Which snake?"

"Maybe this one. Or this one," Ravid said.

She begins reading. "Everglade rat snakes are often found near water. They are very good swimmers. ..."

It is an ordinary moment in a typical day in the life of Ravid. It is also a glimpse at the extraordinary progress she has made since suffering burns over 90% of her body.

It happened in her native Israel in the summer of 2007, when Ravid (pronounced Rah-VEED) was 2. Her father had trouble lighting a barbecue. He added a combustible fluid, and there was an explosion.

Ayelet Sulam, 43, didn't know whether her daughter would survive, let alone walk, dress herself or go to school. Ravid spent a year in an Israeli hospital. Then, thanks to the fundraising efforts of friends, she and her family were able to travel to the pediatric burn center at Shriners Hospitals for Children-Cincinnati.

Ravid was heavily bandaged when she arrived. Her body had been pulled into a fetal position by burn scars. She couldn't move her chin off her chest. She needed a tracheostomy to breathe. She couldn't walk or use her hands, which were missing fingers and encased in scar tissue.

That was more than two dozen surgeries ago. Now, Ravid's unique hand print -- along with those of other students -- is displayed on a wall in teacher Beth Lyons' classroom. The children inked their palms, pressed them to paper and completed the sentence: "I use my hands to ..."

Ravid wrote: "Write and hold books and pet puppy."

Instructional assistant Tilly Pfeiffer sees not only the progress Ravid has made using her hands -- the other day, she caught a football thrown by the gym teacher -- but also the strides she has made academically and socially.

"Ravid is the most amazing person I've ever met," said Pfeiffer. "She wants to read all the time. I just love to work with her. It's been the biggest honor of my life. She's the hardest worker. She's so bright."

Although shy, she enjoys helping other children, Pfeiffer said.

Staff from Shriners have visited the school to explain burn injuries and answer questions from students and staff.

Still, "The kids are very curious all the time about what happened and would like to know more," Pfeiffer said. "But they also really see her as another kid. They treat her like that."

She added: "I think this has been an incredible place for her. Somebody said the other day that she has really blossomed here.

"I'm very sad to see her go."

A future filled with uncertainty

Boxes are ready to be packed in the apartment that Ravid shares with her mother, sister and brother. Allie, 17, is a senior and Adir, 13, is an eighth-grader. Once the school year ends, the family will return to Israel.

Donations have covered the family's living expenses the past four and one-half years, but they have run out. Sulam, who was an electronic technician in Israel, cannot work in the U.S. because she is here on a visitor's visa. Ravid's father left Cincinnati after three months and is not part of the children's lives, Sulam said. The couple divorced in 2010.

"Cincinnatians have been generous, but we can't go to the same people again," says a family friend, Shirley Mills of Evendale, Ohio, who served as their interpreter until they learned English.

Moving back to Israel complicates matters.

Ravid has needed multiple surgeries, most recently in December, to keep pace with her growth. "As children grow, their scars get tight," said Dr. Kevin P. Yakuboff, chief of plastic surgery at Shriners. He has been involved in most of Ravid's reconstructive surgeries.

He expects she will need another surgery in a year or two. And additional surgeries after that.

Shriners will provide free medical treatment until she is 21, when it's likely she will no longer be growing. It will be up to the family, though, to find a way back here.

Sulam also worries whether she will find a school for Ravid as supportive as Pleasant Ridge Montessori. And Allie, who was accepted to the University of Cincinnati's chemical engineering program, now must make other plans. She will be required to serve two years in the Israeli army once she turns 18.

In addition, Sulam worries where the money will come from to pay for their flight back to Israel and to start a new life. They will have no apartment, no furniture. She has family there, but says they can't help financially.

"Ravid is going to do something wonderful with her life. She's going to be able to help a lot of people," Pfeiffer said.